• First phase i.e, 246 km Delhi – Dausa – Lalsot section of DME reduces travel time from Delhi to Jaipur and provide boost to economic development of entire region.
• DME will be 8 lane India’s longest greenfield expressway with length of 1,386 km.
• It’ll reduce travel distance between Delhi and Mumbai by 12% and travel time by 50% i.e., 12 hrs.
• It’ll pass through six states – Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra and connect major cities.
• The expressway is the first in Asia and only the second in the world to feature animal overpasses and underpasses to facilitate unrestricted movement of wildlife.
• It’ll serve 93 PM Gati Shakti Economic Nodes, 13 Ports, 8 Major Airports and 8 multi-modal logistics parks (MMLPs) along greenfield airports like Jewar Airport etc.
• It is part of Centre’s Bharatmala Pariyojana (launched by Ministry of Road Transport & Highways) and expected to be completed in 2024.
• DME project is powered by PM Gati Shakti Master Plan where arrangements have been made to lay optical fibre cables, electricity lines, gas pipelines etc.

• Recently, the Prime Minister used the BIMARU term in the context of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh states.

More on the news

• The ‘BIMARU’ acronym has been used to refer to Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh, to imply they have lagged in terms of economic growth, healthcare, and education.
• The term was used to highlight the backwardness, especially with regard to poor performance in demographic indicators and contribution to population explosion.
• These states had exceptionally high levels of mortality, morbidity, illiteracy, fertility, undernutrition, and social inequality and lagged behind in per capita income.
• It was coined by Ashish Bose in 1980 to pinpoint India’s demographic malady.
• Bose mainly argued that from a family planning and population control perspective, these four states, with their high population growth rates were likely to offset the gains made elsewhere in the country.
• BIMARU states accounted for 41 percent of India’s total population in 2001 and will account for 43.5 percent in 2026 which has political and economic implications.
• The national goal of reaching a “stabilising population”, meaning a Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of 2.1 was achieved recently.
  • However, these states lag far behind.

• New governors were appointed in Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Jharkhand, HP, Assam, AP Chhattisgarh, Manipur, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Bihar, Maharashtra and Ladakh (UT).

About Governor:

• Article 153 of the Constitution says “There shall be a Governor for each State”.
  • He/she is the Chief Executive Head of a State.
  • The governor is a nominal (titular or constitutional) head.
  • Acts as an agent of the central government.
• Appointment
  • Under Article 155, The Governor of a State shall be appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal.
  • Under Article 156, the Governor shall hold office during the pleasure of the President. The Governor has no security of tenure.
  • Article 157 and 158 lay down qualifications and terms of office of Governor
    • Must be a citizen of India and should have completed age of 35 years.
    • Governor should not be a member of Parliament or a state legislature, and must not hold any other office of profit.
  • Functions
    • Article 163 of the Constitution says the Governor will normally be aided and advised by the Council of Ministers except in those functions which require his discretion.
    • Article 164 of the constitution says the Chief Minister shall be appointed by the Governor and the other Ministers shall be appointed by the Governor on the advice of the Chief Minister, and the Ministers shall hold office during the pleasure of the Governor.
    • Powers–
      • Under Article 161 the Governor of a State shall have the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites, or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence against any law relating to a matter to which the executive power of the State extends.
      • Legislative Powers:
        • The Governor has the power to prorogue and dissolve the state legislature.
        • Governor appoints one-sixth of the total members of the legislative council from the fields of literature, science, art, cooperative movement, and social service.
        • With respect to the bill introduced in the state legislature, he can give his assent, withhold his assent, return the bill, and reserve the bill for President’s consideration.
      • Executive Powers:
        • All Executive actions in the state by the government are taken in his name.
        • The Chief Minister and Council of Ministers are appointed by him.
        • The Governor appoints the State Election Commissioner, Chairman and members of the State Public Service Commission, Advocate General of State, and Vice-Chancellor of Universities.
        • The President of India imposes President’s rule in any state on the recommendation of the Governor of the concerned state.

• The district administration is making elaborate preparations to ensure the peaceful conduct of the upcoming Hola Mohalla fair at the Dera Baba Vadbhag Singh shrine in Mairi village, scheduled to be held from February 27 to March 9 this year.
• About 5 lakh devotees, mostly from Punjab, visit the shrine during the fair every year.
• Deputy Commissioner said the shrine and its periphery will be divided into 10 sectors, each under the command of a sector magistrate and a sector police officer.

• Chief Minister has congratulated “Harmony of The Pines”, Himachal Pradesh Police orchestra, for being selected for performing at the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival (DPIFF) Awards to be held in Mumbai on February 20.
• The CM wished success to Harmony of The Pines in its future endeavours.

• Government run National Language Translation Mission or Bhashini Mission’s capabilities have been integrated with UPI ecosystem to make digital payments through UPI 123 Pay available in more than 20 local Indian languages.
• Bhashini Mission was launched by Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY).
• It is a local language translator mission that aims to break the barrier between various Indian tongues by using technology.
• This platform will make Artificial Intelligence (Al) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) resources available to Indian MSMEs, startups and innovators in public domain.
• Bhashini platform is interoperable and will catalyze entire Digital Ecosystem.

• Research sheds light on Agasthiyar Observatory which was one of the few magnetic observatories in world during 19th century.
  • It was situated in Agasthyarkoodam.
• Agasthyakoodam, second highest peak in Kerala and is part of Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve which lies conjointly in states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
  • It is part of UNESCO’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves since 2001.
• Agasthyarkoodam got its name from sage Agasthya. He was a pioneer of Tamil Siddha Ayurveda.

• In a special drive, a total of 10,90,000 Sukanya Samriddhi Accounts were opened at more than 1 lakh post offices across India in just two days, on February 9 and 10.

About the scheme

• The Sukanya Samriddhi Account scheme is a long-term saving scheme for a girl child and aims to encourage parents to build a fund for future education and marriage expenses of their daughters.
• Account is opened in name of a girl child till child attains age of 10 years in post offices and notified branches of commercial banks.
• Minimum deposit of Rs.250 and maximum of Rs. 1,50,000 can be deposited in a financial year.
• The accounts mature after the girl reaches the age of 21 years or at the time of marriage of the girl in whose name the account has been opened.
• Tax benefit is available under section 80C of Income-tax Act.

• Recently, the Minister for Communications, Electronics & Information Technology inaugurated AMRITPEX 2023 – National Philatelic Exhibition.
  • Philately is the study of postage stamps and postal history.
• This five-day Mahakumbh of Stamps (11th to 15th February 2023) in Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, is being organized as a part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav Celebrations.
• The exhibition will feature stamps and photographic collections on the country’s history and culture. It is based on five themes –
  • Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav and New India,
  • Yuva Shakti,
  • Nari Shakti,
  • Nature and Wildlife, and
  • India’s Culture and History.
• For the first time in India, new Technology like Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality has been used to showcase the cultural heritage, history, nature and wildlife by narrating the stories of stamps.

• The Prime Minister has paid tributes to Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Ji on his Punya Tithi (Death Anniversary).
• He was born in 1916 in Nagla Chandrabhan village, now called Deendayal Dham in Uttar Pradesh.
• He joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and dedicated himself to full-time work in RSS from 1942.
• He started a monthly magazine “Rashtra Dharma”, a weekly ‘Panchajanya’, and a daily ‘Swadesh’.
• In 2019, Prime Minister unveiled a 63-feet tall statue of Pandit Upadhyaya while inaugurating the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Memorial Centre in Padao on the Varanasi-Chandauli border.